Sims Island is a small but conspicuous, largely ice-free, volcanic island lying south of Smyley Island, between the Rydberg Peninsula and

Case Island Case Island is a roughly circular ice-covered island, in diameter, lying off the coast of Palmer Land, Antarctica. The island lies in Carroll Inlet between the mainland and Smyley Island. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from ...

, in the southern part of Carroll Inlet, off the coast of

Palmer Land Palmer Land () is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica that lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This application of Palmer Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the Advisory Committee on Antarctic ...

in the

Bellingshausen Sea The Bellingshausen Sea is an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula between 57°18'W and 102°20'W, west of Alexander Island, east of Cape Flying Fish on Thurston Island, and south of Peter I Island Peter I Island ( no, Peter I � ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

. It was discovered by pilot Ashley Snow of the United States Antarctic Service Expedition (1939–1941) on an aircraft flight on December 22, 1940. It was named for Lieutenant L.S. Sims of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...

(USMC), a surgeon on the expedition.

Important Bird Area

The whole of the 70 ha island has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports a colony of about 15,000 pairs of

Adélie penguin The Adélie penguin (''Pygoscelis adeliae'') is a species of penguin common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, which is the only place where it is found. It is the most widespread penguin species, and, along with the emperor peng ...

s, based on 2012 satellite imagery, which breed along the beach on the north-eastern coast.

South polar skua The south polar skua (''Stercorarius maccormicki'') is a large seabird in the skua family, Stercorariidae. An older name for the bird is MacCormick's skua, after explorer and naval surgeon Robert McCormick, who first collected the type speci ...

s also breed on the island.

References

Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Penguin colonies Seabird colonies Islands of Palmer Land {{PalmerLand-geo-stub

Important Bird Area

See also

References